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Car dealer in fraud scheme gets probation, community service
‘I’ll make every effort to make it right’ for the victims, the car dealer said.
YOUNGSTOWN — A defendant in an automobile dealing fraud scheme has been sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.
Gregory A. Harvey, 37, of South East River Road, Berlin Center, drew the sentence Thursday from Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Harvey, who had no prior criminal record, pleaded guilty in December to three felony counts of theft, and the prosecution dropped 24 more theft counts and 11 title offenses charged against Harvey.
If he violates the terms of his probation, Harvey will go to prison for 18 months on each theft count, the judge warned.
The judge also ordered Harvey to make restitution to victims for any losses not covered by a civil lawsuit filed by the Ohio Attorney General’s office. That suit has already obtained some restitution payments, Judge Durkin said.
“I’ll make every effort to make it right with them,” Harvey said of the victims. “I will do my best to make restitution.”
Harvey has already committed his own money to try to cover some of the victims’ losses, according to defense lawyer Ronald Yarwood. “He has genuine remorse,” Yarwood added.
When Harvey entered his guilty plea, Robert E. Bush, chief of the criminal division of the county prosecutor’s office, had asked the judge to consider placing Harvey on probation, with the condition that the defendant would continue his cooperation with investigating authorities.
“Mr. Harvey has been very cooperative with the authorities regarding this case,” said Michael J. McBride, the assistant county prosecutor who appeared at Harvey’s sentencing.
Bush had said Harvey’s cooperation includes testifying against his brother, Buddy Harvey, 42, also of Berlin Center, who faces all 63 counts in the indictment.
They consist of 43 theft counts, 15 title offenses, three counts of records tampering, and one count each of defrauding creditors and passing bad checks. All 63 counts are felonies. Buddy Harvey’s case is pending.
The offenses are alleged to have occurred between 2002 and 2006 at the Harveys’ former Harv’s Cars dealership. That dealership operated in Boardman and, earlier, in Canfield.
Bush estimated the total fraud was hundreds of thousands of dollars and said there are more than 60 victims, but no victims made statements at Thursday’s sentencing.
Some victims told police they traded in vehicles at Harv’s Cars in Boardman for newer models. As part of the agreement, the dealership was to pay off the loan balances on the traded-in vehicles, but it failed to do so, forcing victims to make payments on both the old and newer vehicles, according to the complaints.
Other complaints came from those who bought vehicles at Harv’s but contended they never received the titles.
Other people said they paid for warranties on vehicles purchased at the dealership and later learned that those warranties hadn’t been processed and weren’t valid.
The Harveys also took in vehicles to be sold under a consignment arrangement, in which the Harveys were to get a commission and give the remaining sale proceeds to the sellers. The Harveys would sell the cars and not give the proceeds to the people who brought in the cars, and purchasers would drive the vehicles without valid titles, police and prosecutors said.
milliken@vindy.com